Centralia: Ghost Dance

Poulomi Basu worked for more than ten years on the project Centralia, in which the artist focuses on the civil war in central India. She particularly looks at the women of the indigenous population. Many of them joined guerrilla forces to defend themselves against the exploitation of the population and the natural resources by the state and industry. In 2020 Basu published the artist book Centralia with photographs and interviews that deal with the country, the fighters and the power structures. Basu developed the short film Ghost Dance based on her series of photographs together with director CJ Clarke. As in the book, apocalyptic images merge with documentary scenes and intensify in a threatening mania surrounding violence, desolate landscapes and traditional rituals. Basu pushes the authenticity of the medium to the limit with the sheer amount of images and their superimpositions. In doing so she raises questions about power, justice and truth.